Method and Apparatus for Communicating with Plug and Play Devices

1. A method comprising: searching a system registry for a global unique identifier corresponding to a plug and play device; obtaining a symbolic link list corresponding to the global unique identifier; obtaining a symbolic link in the symbolic link list corresponding to an index; using the symbolic link to query an operating system for a pointer to a device object; and using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device.

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device comprises using a physical device object to obtain configuration information about the plug and play device.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the plug and play device comprises a network adapter.

4. An article of manufacture comprising: a machine-accessible medium including instructions that, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising: searching a system registry for a global unique identifier corresponding to a plug and play device; obtaining a symbolic link list corresponding to the global unique identifier; obtaining a symbolic link in the symbolic link list corresponding to an index; using the symbolic link to query an operating system for a pointer to a device object; and using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device.

5. An article of manufacture as in claim 4 wherein using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device comprises using a physical device object to obtain configuration information about the plug and play device.

6. An article of manufacture as in claim 4 wherein said instructions for searching the system registry for the global unique identifier corresponding to the plug and play device comprise instructions for searching the system registry for a global unique identifier corresponding to a plug and play network adapter.

7. A computer system comprising: a bus; a data storage device coupled to said bus; and a processor coupled to said data storage device, said processor operable to receive instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising: searching a system registry for a global unique identifier corresponding to a plug and play device; obtaining a symbolic link list corresponding to the global unique identifier; obtaining a symbolic link in the symbolic link list corresponding to an index; using the symbolic link to query an operating system for a pointer to a device object; and using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device.

8. A computer system as in claim 7 wherein using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device comprises using a physical device object to obtain configuration information about the plug and play device.

9. A computer system as in claim 7 wherein the plug and play device comprises a network adapter.

10. An apparatus comprising: means for searching a system registry for a global unique identifier corresponding to a plug and play device; means for obtaining a symbolic link list corresponding to the global unique identifier; means for obtaining a symbolic link in the symbolic link list corresponding to an index; means for using the symbolic link to query an operating system for a pointer to a device object; and means for using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device.

11. An apparatus as in claim 10 , wherein the means for using the device object to obtain information about the plug and play device comprises means for using a physical device object to obtain configuration information about the plug and play device.

12. An apparatus as in claim 10 , wherein the means for searching the system registry for an identity corresponding to the plug and play device comprises means for searching a system registry for an identity corresponding to a network adapter.